Que Sera, Sera...

yep, they are both finished and have both been worn and have both now been photographed. Though not well! The sun which lets face it has been mainly absent this spring decided to turn up on the two separate days that we were wearing our new cardis ( well you didn't actually think we would wear them together did you?). I have to say I am really happy with how they turned out.
I love the short sleeved version and really think it is cute left unbuttoned. Why I didn't think of that for myself I don't know.
Mine looks better buttoned which is just as well as it is the proud owner of some fantastic daisy buttons. Now as soon as I saw this cardigan I thought ah ha I have the perfect buttons for that. Beautiful glass daisies that were once painted and could be restored!!! A rummage through Mamie's buttons and I could find only 3 buttons - I thought I had more:( So I decided to do an ebay search on glass daisy buttons QUE SERA two more exactly the same as the three I already owned.

A couple of coats of enamel paint and they look exactly as I had hoped. Perfect for a pretty spring cardigan.


Pattern Que Sera
Needles 4.5mm
Yarn Rowan Handknit cotton
Time taken :- far too much!

Ravelympics Day 3

I have got off to a bit of a slow start as we have been away for the weekend. I had to pack it all on the Friday night and realised that I have put my 4.5mm circ somewhere safe- not with my other needles so I am having to resort to knitting the whole thing on straights which means that you can't really see what is going on. I suspect the needle will show as I finish the cardigan.
The yoke is completed it is OK. Just OK. It seems that like apples, Noro should not be bought online. On the colour chart colour 272 is a mix of greens and turquoise with a little brown and grey mixed in for good measure. My two balls although the same dye lot and colour were very different. Only one ball had any turquoise and that was only enough for the cast on edge. The rest of it was small bits of green and tons and tons of brown. I have had to resort to breaking the yarn at strategic places in order for the whole yoke not to turn out brown. The texture of the Noro is actually quite nice though I don't think it will ever be a favourite yarn. I might be tempted to use it again. I have just started separating for the sleeve with the grey cascade it should be OK.

Are you ready???

There has been knitting going on here the last couple of days. However, it is all about to be thrown in a corner . Ravelympics starts tomorrow. I really couldn't decide but I am going to be casting on the garter yoke cardi! I cannot take credit for the Noro yoke as I have seen it done before on Ravelry. Usually I really don't like the way Noro looks (hippy) or feels (scratchy) I haven't ever felt the inclination to knit with it. So this really is a bit scary as I could end up with a hippy scratch cardigan that I don't like.

Owls is Finished

I stitched the buttons on Saturday afternoon. All 34 of them by 20 I was kind of losing the will to live but, I have to say it was worth the effort. I love this sweater. Warm, scratchy and very charming I haven't taken it off since the last button was tied on. You can't really see the colour of them but they are a light teal blue. Slightly lighter than Molly's eyes were when she was a baby.Unfortunately you can't really see in any of the photo's because the light is so bad. Perhaps we need more snow? It is certainly easier to take good photos with a back drop of white! Molly has lost complete interest in fighting the Owls since it was finished which I am very glad about as I wondered how I would get on with a kitten permanently impaled on my leg.

IntSweMoDo2010#4
Needles 6 mm
Yarn Purelife British Sheep Breeds 5.5 balls
Time 7 days

Hmmm Malabrigo - Just Bliss

It turns out that it is quite apt showing you Bliss IntSweMoDo2010#3 today, as I started it on the first of our snow days in January and as I write the first of february's snow is settling outside.
I was making the katherine Hepburn cardigan but I couldnt concentrate with the children running in and out of the house trailing snow as they went. I wanted a stash buster, something quick and most of all I wanted to make something cheerful. The four delicious green hanks of Malabrigo that I bought at Harrogate seemed like the perfect answer. Coupled with Bliss by Samia Buchan a pattern that I had been eying on Ravelry. It turns out that I only used 2.5 skeins so there will be another Malbrigo knit in my near future.
I struggled a bit with the pattern as it was charted more like a cross stitch than a knit and some of the wording was a little strange. I hated this at first but actually it was a good thing as it slowed me down a bit and I had to think about where the stitches were actually going rather than just mindlessly making them. The cables on this are beautiful, very celtic and the Malabrigo seems to make them pop. The combination of cables and the green I have visions of the Green Man hopefully hearalding spring in the not two distant future. Least I hope so as it is far too cold to wear yet.
IntSweMoDo2010#3
Needles 4.5 mm
Yarn malbrigo worsted 2.5 Skeins
Time 23 days

katherine Hepburn Cardigan

Many, many moons ago I saw a dress in the window of Monsoon. A red dress, a young dress, a brave dress ,a wow look at me dress. I wanted it. I hummed and hahed about the cost of it and then found it on Ebay for a fraction of the price. A few days later it arrived. Beautiful fit like a glove but, I suffered from nerves and self doubt. I am not young and brave and I don't want people to stare.
So the dress was folded and put in the cupboard and forgotten about. The red Rowan Cashsoft 4ply was in another cupboard for the same reason.In the new years resolution of cables and stash busting the red yarn was pulled from the stash and I cast on the the Katherine Hepburn Cardigan from Lace Style. The yarn felt great soft and warm but I was still a little undecided about the colour and I couldn't find any buttons in my local shop. Then I had an epiphany, vintage buttons on ebay.
Don't you love ebay? The buttons arrived and I knit faster. Then I was sat knitting at a friend's house and I remembered my dress. A perfect match. The cardigan is number two of my inswemodo2010 and it turned out really well. Am I brave enough to wear it?
Maybe!

IntSweMoDo2010#2
Needles 3.755mm
Yarn Rowan Cashsoft 4py 5 balls
Time 16 days

Blue Danube

I hope you have you have all had a great New Year and have now recovered. Mine was drunken spent with family and friends and ended at 2.00 am. It seems that I am really to old for that time of the morning as I have spent the last couple of days out of routine with my sleep and feeling exhausted. Perhaps I should make a note that next year if I don't want to waste a couple of days I should probably be tucked up with cocoa by ten!
I have this year continued with the tradition of casting on a sweater Christmas Day. I was a little bit undecided which sweater it should be as the yarn I got as a present still hasn't arrived from Canada. But I finally decided on Ysolda Teague's Snow white. I have really wanted this sweater since I first saw it a couple of years ago but it kept being pushed to the back of the queue. The amount of snow that is covering Yorkshire at the moment it seemed like the obvious choice The yarn choice was a saga. I reeally wanted to do it in Sundara Aran but I decided it would cost too much and getting it from America would probably be a hassle. So instead I ordered via a shade card at my local LYS Rhubarb Sublime Cashmere and silk Aran. It arrived and was hideous a violent fuchsia colour that I was never going to wear. Back it went with me paying postage costs and Clipper arrived. It is not the most awe inspiring colour ever but I will wear it. Note to self though, with the extra postage costs the sundara would have cost the same!!!
Snow White was a wonderful quick knit and the pattern was completely straight forward as is the way of all Ysolda's patterns. I was a little undecided about the flat piece of stocking stitch that the original had at the back of the neck.
So as I have decided that 2010 is the year of the cable I have added a couple to the back of the neck. It kind of reminds me of a river the way that the rib undulates around the body. It was a bit of a gamble that the cables would work but, I am very pleased with the outcome
IntSweMoDo2010#1
Needles 4.5mm
Yarn Sublime Cashmere Silk Merino Aran 8.5 balls
Time 8 days
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